jQuery/Javascript - How to wait for manipulated DOM to update before proceeding with function
What I'm trying to do is to update a simple div to say "Processing..." before executing a CPU-intensive script (it takes 3-12 seconds to run, no AJAX) then update the div to say "Finished!" when done.
What I'm seeing is the div never gets updated with "Processing...". If I set a breakpoint immediately after that command, then the div text does get updated, so I know the syntax is correct. Same behavior in IE9, FF6, Chrome13.
Even when bypassing jQuery and using basic raw Javascript, I see the same issue.
You'd think this would have an easy answer. However, since the jQuery .html() and .text() don't have a callback hook, that's not an option. It's also not animated, so there is no .queue to manipulate.
You can test this yourselves using the sample code I prepared below that shows both the jQuery and Javascript implementations with a 5 second high-CPU function. The code is easy to follow. When you click either the button or the link, you never see "Processing..."
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.1/jquery.min.js" ></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
function addSecs(d, s) {return new Date(d.valueOf()+s*1000);}
function doRun() {
document.getElementById('msg').innerHTML = 'Processing JS...';
start = new Date();
end = addSecs(start,5);
do {start = new Date();} while (end-start > 0);
document.getElementById('msg').innerHTML = 'Finished JS';
}
$(function() {
$('button').click(function(){
$('div').text('Processing JQ...');
start = new Date();
end = addSecs(start,5);
do {start = new Date();} while (end-start > 0);
$('div').text('Finished JQ');
});
});
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="msg">Not Started</div>
<button>jQuery</button>
<a href="#" onclick="doRun()">javascript</a>
</body>
</html>
Answer
set it to processing, then do a setTimeout to prevent the cpu intensive task from running until after the div has been updated.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.1/jquery.min.js" ></script>
<script>
function addSecs(d, s) {return new Date(d.valueOf()+s*1000);}
function doRun() {
document.getElementById('msg').innerHTML = 'Processing JS...';
setTimeout(function(){
start = new Date();
end = addSecs(start,5);
do {start = new Date();} while (end-start > 0);
document.getElementById('msg').innerHTML = 'Finished Processing';
},10);
}
$(function() {
$('button').click(doRun);
});
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="msg">Not Started</div>
<button>jQuery</button>
<a href="#" onclick="doRun()">javascript</a>
</body>
</html>
you can modify the setTimeout delay as needed, it may need to be larger for slower machines/browsers.
Edit:
You could also use an alert or a confirm dialog to allow the page time to update.
document.getElementById('msg').innerHTML = 'Processing JS...';
if ( confirm( "This task may take several seconds. Do you wish to continue?" ) ) {
// run code here
}